Wilhelm Gebauer

Wilhelm Gebauer (6 January 1882-23 August 1972) was an Austrian general and politician.

Biography
Wilhelm Gebauer was born in Grossherlitz, Silesia, Austria-Hungary (now Velke Heraltice, Czech Silesia, Czech Republic) on 6 January 1882, and he studied at the Brno Cadet School. He served as a lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I, fighting against the Imperial Russian Army in the east, and he became a major in the Austrian Army after the war's end. In 1927, he was promoted to colonel, and he became a brigade commander in 1932. Gebauer served as the Fatherland Front government's head of intelligence during the Austrofascism period, and he became a Field Marshal in 1937. After the Anschluss, he turned down an offer to remain in the armed forces under Nazi Germany, and he died in 1972, the last living Field Marshal of Austria.